Pump powered cocaine extraction from 2.5kg of coca tea

Pump powered cocaine extraction from
2.5kg of coca tea
By chemhead
This document shows my favourite method of how to extract cocaine from
coca tea leaves. I have tried to make it as noob friendly as possible. I suggest if
you are a noob please read the first few pages of my ramblings as I try to
explain how and why the extraction works so that you get a better idea of
what’s actually going on in the process. The more you know about it the better
you will be at doing it.
If you are not a noob and just want to check out the methods I use then:
To skip to the pump powered reaction vessel set up click HERE
To skip to the extraction write up click HERE
To skip to the oxidation write up click HERE
To skip to the freebasing write up click HERE
To skip to the salting write up click HERE
To skip to the abridged write ups click HERE
To skip to the calculations click HERE
Coca tea:
Coca tea can be purchased easily via the internet, there are a bunch Peruvian
websites that sell it by the kg. The sample I use in this write up comes prepacked in 1kg vac sealed bags but the more common stuff you will find will be
in actual tea bags. Either way it’s the same but if you get it in the tea bags you
will have to spend time ripping open all the bags to get the tea out. I have
personally never had trouble with the law in regards to getting it into the
country in fact only one time did if ever get stopped, that was a 4kg order and I
never had anyone come knocking it seemed to be just a case of they threw it
out. Anyway order at your own risk as obviously big orders of coca tea are
illegal. Just one quick note for noobs, never preform an extraction at the same
address that any of the precursors (including the tea) are ordered to. Getting
caught with some bulk tea is one thing, getting caught with a working
extraction lab is another!!!
Extraction basics (for noobs):
Really all you need to know is that there are two different forms of cocaine,
the freebase form and the salt form. In the two different forms the molecule
has very different solubilities. In the freebase form the molecule will dissolve in
kerosene and acetone but not in water while in the salt form it is the opposite.
The extraction method takes advantage of the fact that we can convert the
molecule from one form to the other changing its solubility while leaving other
crap behind. By going from one form to the other multiple times swapping
between different solvents (kerosene, acetone, acidic water) we can purify the
molecule each time till you get to the point where only the cocaine and related
alkaloids remain.
Quick rundown on how the extraction works (for noobs):
The extraction method I use is the classic kerosene/sulphuric acid.
So anyway the coca tea leaves contain cocaine in the plant cells so the first
thing we do is hit the leaves with a basic (alkaline) solution this does two things
breaks open the plant cells so we can get to the cocaine inside and it also
converts the cocaine to its freebase form (soluble in kerosene). So the next
step is to flood the plant matter with kerosene this will then pull the cocaine
(along with a lot of other things) out of the leaves and into the liquid. The plant
matter is removed and the kerosene is then washed with acidic water. The
water and kerosene don’t mix together but what does happen is when the
freebase cocaine touches the acidic water it is then converted into its salt form
and is now no longer soluble in kerosene but likes to be dissolved into water.
So the acidic water is actually extracting the cocaine (and a few other things)
out of the kerosene and leaving quite a lot of other impurities behind. After
mixing well the acid layer is left to settle out of the kerosene and then
separated off and put through a process called oxidation. Basically it’s a pure
“cleaning step” and just destroys all the impurities in the acidic water and
leaves the cocaine behind. The acidic water is then hit with ammonia solution
to once again freebase the cocaine. Because it is now freebase it no longer
soluble in water and will literally snow out of the solution to be easily collected
in a coffee filter. The freebase is then cleaned with an acetone redissolve/filter
then it is converted back into its salt form using acetone and a tiny amount of
hydrochloric acid. It is then filtered and dried out ready for snorting!
If you are a noob I know it sounds like a lot but I will document every process
with pictures in a step by step manner. If you are not a noob then you already
know all this so what are you doing reading this part!? Skip right to the
extraction!
Pump powered extraction vessel
I use a fuel pump powered extraction vessel for my extractions. I have found it
is the easiest, cleanest most care free “set and forget” method of extracting
the tea. It’s actually quite a basic thing to set up but the cost is slightly high at
around $200 for all materials including the pump and power supply. Still it is
WELL worth it if you are either planning on doing multiple extractions over
time or doing a big extraction all at once (think 10kg plus).
It’s actually quite simple in the way it works basically you get a big HDPE
container with a tap on the bottom (a water container) you line this container
with a simple bed sheet and then you place your based coca tea leaves into the
container inside the bed sheet. A clear tube is attached to the tap that is then
fed into an inline fuel filter. From there the tube is led from the filter into a fuel
pump and then led into the bottom of a separation funnel half filled with a 5%
sulphuric acid solution. There is another “exit” tube attached to the top of the
separation funnel that leads back into the extraction vessel creating a
circulating system. The extraction vessel is then filled with kerosene and the
pump turned on. What happens is the kerosene is circulated through the
system getting bubbled through the acidic water then pushed back out the top
of the funnel back into the vessel.
It might sound a little confusing so on the next page I made a crappy mspaint
picture of the set up along with some actual pictures to help clear up any
confusion.
This is what the set up looks like while running
(Below) Vessel with a fresh sheet lining the inside and a top view of inside the vessel
(Above) Better angle of the set up running
(Above) On the left HDPE water spray bottle (separation funnel) close up. You
can see the layers and the separation line with bubbles going through. It’s hard
to see I know but you don’t want it going any harder than this or you will start
to lose your H2SO4\cocaine layer from the force of the current.
On the right close up view of the two holes drilled into the bottom of the HDPE
bottle. The tube on the left goes all the way down to the bottom and has an
airstone pushed into the end of the tube to atomize the kerosene. The tube on
the right is the exit tube and is only pushed about 1 inch into the bottle and is
led back into the vessel.
(Above) You can see the tube and stone inside the end of it and a close up of
the stone.
(Above) And finally this is the flow rate you want. Any faster than this and you
will start pushing H2SO4\cocaine layer back into the extraction vessel and
that’s not good. This flow rate was achieved with the power supply set to only
6v at the start but was adjusted to 7.5v as the fuel filter started to clog up over
time. Some runs I have had to use 9v at the start and 12v by the end. I don’t
know why but that’s just the way it is, this is why a variable DC power supply is
a must!
Ok well that’s all I can really say about the extraction vessel set up, on to the
extraction.
Extraction
Chemicals needed
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2.5Kg Coca tea
12L Kerosene
500g Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3)
5L water (tap water is fine)
300mL 5% Sulphuric acid solution (H2SO4)
~80mL 6% Potassium permanganate solution (KMnO4)
~100mL 10% Ammonia solution (NH3)
Calcium chloride (CaCl2)
Acetone (dried with the calcium chloride)
37% hydrochloric acid (HCL)
Into a large bucket (Bucket A) dissolve 500g of Na2CO3 into 5 litres of water.
(1:10 ratio) Give it a stir and wait till the solution goes completely clear (will
take around 5 mins). While waiting for it to clear up add 500g of your coca tea
into another bucket (Bucket B). Using a beaker or measuring cup
approximately pour 1 litre of your Na2CO3 solution from bucket A into your
500g of coca tea in bucket B and mix very well with gloved hands. After a while
you will notice the green tea leaves start to turn black and give off a pungent
odor. The texture of the leaves will also turn similar to the texture of potting
soil. When you squeeze the plant matter it should mould to itself kind of like
clay and no water should come out if it. If water comes out when you squeeze
it you have added too much water and will need to add some more dry tea to
absorb it. It’s exactly the same as making cake mix if you add too much water
add more tea, not enough water add a little splash in and mix it around a bit till
it is the right amount. After mixing it really well transfer the now soil looking
plant matter into the extraction vessel and mix another 500g batch of tea. The
reason to do it in small batches is to make sure you get an even distribution of
the Na2CO3 solution into the leaves. Once all the tea is based with Na2CO3
solution and placed into the extraction vessel leave it sit covered for about 1
hour to make sure the solution really breaks down the leaves and frees up that
cocaine!
(Below) After mixing in 1 litre of Na2CO3 solution
(Below) Give it a squeeze and no water comes out
(Below) The plant matter sticks to itself like clay
(Below) The reaction vessel filled with 2.5kg of based tea leaves
(Below) Closer look inside the reaction vessel
After a 1 hour wait the reaction vessel is flooded with 12 litres of kerosene and
left to soak for 24 hours. During this time give it a few good stir sessions to
make sure the kerosene pulls out all the cocaine from the leaves and set up
your pump system and separation funnel half filled with 300mL of 5% H2SO4
solution. At the end of the 24 hour soak turn the pump on and circulate the
kerosene through the bottom H2SO4 layer in the separation funnel and back
out into the reaction vessel. Leave this recirculating for a further 24 hours to
make sure the acid layer pulls all the cocaine out of the kerosene. At the end of
the 24 hour period turn off the pump and separate the acid layer from the
kerosene layer. If you used an actual separation funnel then this is a very easy
task but if you used my ghetto equivalent then you will have to just crack open
the end cap and catch the acid layer in a plastic disposable sandwich bag
making sure you run all the acid water into it by letting some kerosene come
through too. Then just simply separate the layers by snipping off the bottom
corner of the bag catching the acid layer in a beaker and discarding the
kerosene layer.
Important Note:
You must make sure that the flow isn’t too turbulent or the strong current will
slowly pull the H2SO4\cocaine water layer into the reaction vessel and you will
lose product. The way to check is to look at the meeting point of the two layers
in the funnel. If you see tiny water bubbles floating into the kerosene layer
than its ok but if the entire separation layer is moving around like crazy you will
have to turn it down. This is why it is a really good idea to buy a variable
voltage DC power adapter for the pump. The exact one I use is a 2.4amp
variable DC power adapter that has 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5, 9 and 12 volt settings. I find
that 12 volts at the start of the run is actually way too fast and will disturb the
separation layers too much but nearer to the end (after about 12 hours in) the
flow will slow down as the filter gets more and more blocked. So I have found
that it’s better to start it off at 7.5v overnight then crank it to 12v (if needed)
for the last half. Again this really only depends on how blocked the filter is but
what you are looking for is the fastest flow rate you can get while not
disturbing the separation layers too much or you will start to lose acid water
and get a lower yield. This is another reason for the airstone not only does it
increase surface area but it also “softens” the impact the kerosene has on the
water and allows for a faster flow rate without disturbing the separation layer.
(Above) Extraction vessel running and optimum flow rate.
(Above) Sandwich bag with now brown H2SO4\cocaine layer on the bottom
and small amount of kerosene layer on top. The bottom corner of the bag is
snipped off with a sharp pair of scissors so that the liquid flows out slowly. The
bottom layer is captured into a clean 600mL beaker while the kerosene layer is
captured into a plastic bottle for disposal.
You really don’t want to get any kerosene into the H2SO4\cocaine beaker so it
is a good idea not to push your luck and just swap over to the disposal bottle
before the H2SO4\cocaine layer has finished going all the way through. It’s
better to lose 5mL of the acid layer than to contaminate your product!
Once you have the H2SO4\cocaine layer collected kerosene free you are now
finished with the extraction part of the procedure! It’s time to move onto the
oxidation!
Oxidation
Ok so I am going to explain the oxidation step a little as it is easily the number
one place where people mess up. All you really need to know is that the purple
KMnO4 solution oxidizes the unwanted stuff in the H2SO4\cocaine solution
leaving behind the cocaine. So you will be adding a purple KMnO4 solution into
a brown\tan H2SO4\cocaine solution. But as the KMnO4 reacts it leaves
behind MnO2 particles that are dark brown in color. So at first addition the
solution will go purple\pink but after a few mins it will fade away and get
darker brown. As you go along adding more and more KMnO4 solution to the
H2SO4\cocaine solution it will stay pink for longer and longer after each
addition but end up getting darker and darker brown. E.g.
The 1st addition will stay pink for only a minute or two then go brown but the
5th addition will probably stay pink for about 10mins or so and then go brown.
Now the only reason you need to know all this is that I think the perfect time
to stop oxidizing is at the point where the solution stays pink for about 20 mins
after an addition of KMnO4.
Now it sounds easy enough right? Well it is a litter tricker than it sounds
because as I mentioned the solution gets darker brown from all the MnO2
floating around that it’s almost impossible to see the pink in solution by the
end. Don’t worry though because the best way I have found to check on the
color is by simply dropping some of the very dark brown H2SO4\cocaine
solution onto some paper towel, that way you can easily see the pink color
mixed in with the brown. This way you can keep checking the length of time
the solution has stayed pink for. E.g. After the 6th or so addition of KMnO4 into
the beaker check the time and wait a good 10 mins, then dip a spoon or
something (I just use the thermometer) into the solution and then quickly wipe
it onto a paper towel. You can check to see if any pink remains and if it doesn’t
then add another lot of KMnO4 solution to the mix, wait and repeat. Keep
doing this till the solution stays pink around the 17-20 min mark. It takes some
practice to get good at it but it’s not that hard as long as you have patience!
Anyway the pictures will clear it up if you are still a little confused by my
ramblings.
If you are not too worried about the perfect oxidation step or can’t be
bothered by checking on the solution all the time then a good rule of thumb is
33mL of 6% KMnO4 solution per kilogram of coca tea extracted.
This will give you a care free oxidation that gives good results every time. The
procedure is actually very simple but the key is to go slowly, ice cold and with
good stirring. If you add the KMnO4 solution too fast or too hot than you will
start to oxidize the cocaine molecules and this is bad!
Anyway on to the procedure.
Take two beakers, in beaker A you will have your now tan\light brown 5%
H2SO4\cocaine solution that contains your coca leaf alkaloids. Fill beaker B
with a 6% solution of KMnO4. Make sure that beaker A is large enough to fit at
least 300mL more volume into it as we are going to slowly drip in the 6%
KMnO4 solution from beaker B into beaker A. This must be done at a
temperature below at most 5 °C. This means you should really chill it to about
3 – 4 °C. To do this simply place beaker A into an ice bath (just a pot filled with
ice will do) and you must use a thermometer to measure the temperature. To
chill the beaker faster you can use a spoon to stir the ice water around the
beaker. The more the water moves past the beaker the faster it will suck the
heat out. Alternatively you can just throw a few ice cubes into the
H2SO4\cocaine solution to chill it down quite fast.
Now once it is chilled and while it is still in the ice bath it is time to add in your
KMnO4 solution at about 10-15mL at a time every 5-10 mins. I use a 3mL
plastic pipette for easy transfer of one solution to the other. After the 10-15mL
of KMnO4 solution has been added to beaker A it needs to be stirred in well to
make sure the oxidation happens evenly. (I actually use a magnetic stirrer but
if you don’t have one just stir it in manually with the thermometer). As the
addition of KMnO4 will slightly heat up the solution it is a good idea to then
give the ice water a good stir around beaker A to make sure the temp stays
below 5 °C. As I said the point at which to stop addition of the KMnO4 is at
about 33mL of KMnO4 per kg of coca tea but really that is just a guide as
different batches of tea leaves will have different amounts of alkaloids.
Basically the perfect time to stop oxidizing is when the solution stays pink for
about 20 mins after the addition of KMnO4. (I like to stop at about 17 mins
because I like the slightly under oxidized stuff more). Once the last bit has been
added then the beaker needs to be left in the ice bath to fully react all
remaining KMnO4 for at least 45 mins.
Here are the steps written out in a more user friendly easier to follow way.
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Chill H2SO4\cocaine solution to under 5 °C in an ice bath
Add 10-15mL of 6% KMnO4 solution every 5-10 mins with stirring
Stir the ice water around beaker A to keep the temp below 5 °C
Repeat till desired amount of KMnO4 has been added
Leave beaker A in ice bath for 45 mins after final addition of KMnO4 to fully react
It really is that simple especially if you are just going to go with the 33mL per kg
oxidation. If you are aiming for the 17 mins of pink then it is a little harder but
not much, really you just have to check every ten mins after adding the KMnO4
solution to see if the H2SO4\cocaine solution still has some pink in it.
(Below) H2SO4\cocaine solution (left) and 6% KMnO4 solution (right)
(Above) Chilled H2SO4\cocaine solution (3°C)
(Above) First 10-15mL addition of 6% KMnO4 solution to H2SO4\cocaine
solution (with magnetic stirring)
(Above) Directly after the first 10-15mL has gone in
(Above) Stirring the ice around the beaker after adding in KMnO4 to make sure
the temp stays low.
(Above) How the solution looks after the 4th addition of KMnO4. (About 40 –
50mL) It’s hard to see but the solution is actually pink/purple but is filled with
brown particles.
(Above) Color test (bottom right) this drop was taken out of the beaker about
12 mins after adding the 6th addition of KMnO4 and the solution still has some
pink to it. Another drop was taken out of the beaker two mins after it and had
no pink so more KMnO4 solution was added. The pink on the towel quickly
fades away to brown as you can see from the past color testing above.
(Above) After my 7th addition (about 80 - 90mL) the solution looked much
darker (the camera doesn’t do it justice) and the solution stayed pink for about
18 minutes, perfect!
(Above) This is what it looked like after leaving it for 45 minutes to fully react.
The flash makes it look the same but trust me when I say it’s even darker than
the last pic.
(Above) All done in just under 2 hours!
(Above) Time to filter out all that MnO2. I use a vacuum filtration set up as
filtering out all the MnO2 via gravity takes FOREVER (but it can be done)
(Above) Half way through filtering you can see the H2SO4\cocaine solution
now looks a lot lighter than before and a lot clearer. This isn’t the final stage
though as I will filter the solution again via gravity to get the last very fine
particles of MnO2 out.
(Above) Caked up MnO2 in the filter
(Above) Vacuum filtered H2SO4\cocaine solution! (Above)
(Above) Gravity filtered H2SO4\cocaine solution! As you can see it is now
nearly colourless. It still has a slight yellow tinge to it. This is because I like to
under oxidize it a little for what I believe is a more euphoric cocaine. If you
were to fully oxidize it then the solution would be completely colorless like
water. Just some quick math ~85mL (I didn’t measure precisely) of
KMnO4/2.5kg of coca tea comes to 34mL of KMnO4 per kg of coca tea. Slightly
over the 33mL per kg sweet spot. This is now ready for freebasing!
Freebasing
Right so now you have a fairly clean solution of cocaine.sulphate and maybe
some other alkaloids but they are no good to us in this form we need to
convert that cocaine.sulphate into cocaine.hydrochloride! Or into freebase if
you are that way inclined. Either way we need to freebase it first. This is
actually very easy to do all one needs is a simple 10% solution of ammonia
(think house hold ammonia). The procedure is basically just dripping the
ammonia solution into the cocaine solution slowly with stirring. Sound
familiar? That’s because it is exactly the same as the oxidizing procedure! The
advantage being you don’t need an ice bath you can just do it at room temp.
Also the beauty of freebasing coke is that a pH meter is not needed at all as the
cocaine molecules will literally fall out of the solution when you start to near
the right pH.
As the first drop of ammonia hits the solution you will instantly see white
particles appear as they fall out of solution. After a little bit they will then
redissolve back into the solution. This is because the concentration of
ammonia where the drips hit is quite high, high enough to freebase the
cocaine but as the ammonia evens out the concentration drops and the
molecules go back into solution. This happens at the start but as you slowly go
along the concentration of the entire system increases until very suddenly the
entire solution will just start snowing out cocaine! At this point you are about
85% of the way there just keep slowly dropping in your ammonia till you see
that no more is falling out at the point of contact. Add about 10% more
ammonia solution after this point and then leave it for about 15mins to fully
freebase out everything.
I actually have an old video of the freebasing procedure from a different run I
did years ago you can get it at
https://mega.co.nz/#!GdYQBQRD!fV5ML03WshJQzBVHhdqhudDyD0b4YLo0JJ5EhONvSI
I have also included pictures of the freebasing of this procedure in this write up
because one day the link is sure to go down.
(Above) First addition of 10% ammonia solution as you can see the moment it
hits the H2SO4\cocaine solution it clouds out but after stirring it will dissolve
back into solution. This will continue to do so until suddenly the solution will
get dark yellow and it will all fall out.
(Above) Solution getting more and cloudier with continued additions of
ammonia. This is at a point where it will soon suddenly cloud out.
(Above) Solution has clouded out. Now when it hits this point I like to really
slow down my addition of ammonia as you don’t want to bully the molecules
into freebasing, take it nice and slow.
(Above) Top view of finished freebasing, this is left to stir for 20 mins.
(Above) All done! Stirring stopped and you can see the freebase cocaine
starting to fall to the bottom of the beaker. Also note the color of the solution
has turned from a very pale yellow into a very dark yellow almost a brown
color.
(Above) Setting up for filtration (you really don’t need a vacuum filtration set
up for the freebase but as I have one and it makes it a lot faster so I use it)
(Above) The old H2SO4\cocaine solution after it has been filtered. It technically
now is just an ammonia solution with some oxidized plant fats and unwanted
alkaloids.
I don’t have any pics of it but once all the freebase is collected into the filter I
like to run a clean weak ammonia solution over it to wash off all the dirty
residual old freebase solution. Just get a beaker and fill it with tap water and
add a splash of your 10% ammonia to it to raise the pH a little. Then just run
this solution over the dirty freebase cocaine in the filter. You will see it get
slightly whiter after a few washings.
Once you are happy with the clean water washings it is time to bunch that
filter up and squeeze the hell out of it to get the water out. Just twist the
coffee filter up like a tea bag and use force! Just be careful not to rip the filter
or the coke will fall out. Once no more water is squeezing out then grab some
paper towels and place them around the filter and give it another squeeze. The
paper towels will suck the very last bit of excess water out of the filter paper.
Once no more water is coming out just peel the filter back and place your now
huge rock of freebase coke onto a drying plate of some kind. It is important to
break it up as much as possible to increase surface area so that it dries out fully
overnight.
(Above) Freebase cocaine! As you can see it’s already kinda dry but it still
needs to fully dry out overnight/day to get rid of the ammonia smell and any
residual water left behind. This has been spread out onto a pyrex baking tray
with a small pedestal fan very lightly blowing over it, think the fan is on the
other side of the room as you don’t want to blow your blow away! You really
want to make sure it is 100% dry before going any further with it. I leave it for
at least a full 12 hours with a fan blowing to make sure. If it is a really cold
night then leave it for 24 hours to dry. It’s best to avoid heat while drying
cocaine as hot water will hydrolyse it.
As you can see I have also added in the magnetic stir bars (the white things on
the right) as they also have caked on freebase stuck to them. Any objects that
have the freebase stuck on them should be added to the drying plate (spoons,
beakers etc.)
Once the freebase is fully dry it is time to dissolve it into some dry acetone
(needs to be dry, pure acetone). What happens is the cocaine freebase will
dissolve into the acetone but some other impurities present are not able to so
they stay undissolved as very fine particles. These particles can be removed by
simple gravity filtration using a coffee filter. Once filtered the now much
cleaner acetone is poured back into the (cleaned) pyrex baking tray and left to
evaporate. Just like in the last step the freebase needs to be fully dry before
continuing the process.
(Above) 24 hours after the freebase was filtered it is now dry as a bone and
ready for the acetone dissolve.
(Above) Scraped up dry freebase in beaker before flooding with acetone.
(Above) Freebase cocaine after acetone addition. As you can see it has actually
turned quite brown, this is all from impurities still left over.
Unfortunately at this point I forgot to take a picture of the filtration process
but it’s just running this solution through a coffee filter and catching the clean
acetone in another beaker. All the brown particles stay in the filter and the
clean acetone looks a much less colored and very clear.
This clean solution is poured into the pyrex baking tray and evaporated to
complete dryness over a few hours. I put it into the oven on low heat (40
degrees C) for an extra hour to fully dry out any residual acetone.
(Above) Fully evaporated and oven dried freebase cocaine. You can see how
much cleaner and whiter it looks. This stuff is fine to vaporize and gives a very
nice strong high.
(Above) Scraped up clean freebase.
(Above) Another closer picture of the freebase taken with the flash on. The
camera doesn’t do it justice but you can see how it lightly sparkles in the light.
Again I forgot to take a picture but this freebase yield came to 12.056g
If you are a freebase connoisseur then your journey ends here but if you are
wanting to make the “normal” sortable cocaine then this freebase needs to be
salted into cocaine.hydrochloride in the final step.
Salting
The salting procedure is the easiest step of the whole write up. It is very simple
but to do it perfectly one needs to use correct stoichiometry and mole ratios.
Sounds involved but don’t worry I have done all the hard work for you!
The actual procedure works like this:
The cleaned freebase cocaine is dissolved into a beaker with some dry acetone
at about 20ml of acetone per gram of cocaine freebase. We will call this Beaker
A. Now in another beaker (Beaker B) you pour in about 100ml of dry acetone
and a small amount of Hydrochloric acid (HCL) per gram of cocaine freebase.
Beaker B is then poured into Beaker A and given a stir. After a while
cocaine.hydrochloride will snow out of the solution! This is because once the
freebase cocaine turns into the hydrochloride salt it is no longer soluble in
acetone and therefore has nowhere else to go but to “fall out” of solution.
After a few hours the solution is filtered and the cocaine.HCl in collected in the
filter and put somewhere to dry out fully before use.
The ratio to use for chem grade 37% HCl is 0.32 grams of 37% Hydrochloric
acid for every 1 gram of freebase cocaine. Adding too much acid and the coke
will burn when snorting it, adding too little and not all of the coke will salt out
of the solution. It is advised that 37% HCL be used as the hardware store stuff
is not always the same concentration so one batch might be 28% and another
might be 31%. This throws off the salting calculations and will result in an
incorrect salting procedure. Really though if you are able to get your hands on
KMnO4 then you should be able to get 37% HCl quite easily.
The most important thing to know is to make sure your freebase is fully dried
out before salting it as any excess acetone will throw the weight of it off by
quite a lot and if the weight is not correct you will not be able to accurately
add the correct amount of HCl resulting in over salting and a product that
burns the nose when snorted.
(Above) Beaker A contains acetone with the 12.056g of freebase cocaine
dissolved into it. As you can see it has a slight color to it, this is because I like to
under oxidise so the product does still have some small impurities, most of
these will stay dissolved into the acetone and won’t make it through the salting
procedure anyway. Beaker B contains acetone with 3.86 grams of 37%
hydrochloric acid dissolved into it.
The two beakers are mixed together and stirred then left for an hour to settle.
(Above) Acetone with all the cocaine.HCl “snowed out” sitting at the bottom of
the beaker.
(Above) Filtered out cocaine.HCl
Again just like the freebase this was twisted up and squeezed very hard to get
all the excess acetone out of it. The paper towel trick was used again to suck
the very last of the acetone out. It is left to fully dry out for a few hours.
(Above) What the acetone looks like after the cocaine.HCl is filtered out of it.
As you can see it still holds onto most of the colored impurities.
(Above) Fully dried out rocked up cocaine.HCl
(Above) I wanted to know how much that big rock weighed… Charlie Sheen
anyone?
(Above) Final yield 12.141g from 2.5kg of coca leaves is 0.48%
Success! That’s all there is too it. I know it looks like a lot but that’s just
because I have gone into a lot of detail on each process making it look like a
huge amount of things. Most of it is just adding a solution into another one
and waiting for a bit then filtering it. I have written an abridged guide on the
next page for quick reference if you already understand all the processes.
Abridged version quick guide
Extraction
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Dissolve 500g Na2CO3 into 5 litres of water (1:10 ratio)
Mix this solution into the tea in batches (1 litre for every 500g)
Transfer based tea into reaction vessel and leave covered for 1 hour
Add 12 litres of kerosene and leave soak for 24 hours (stir it a few times)
Attach tubing and add 300mL of H2SO4 solution to separation funnel
Turn on pump and circulate for 24 hours
Turn off pump and separate H2SO4\cocaine solution
Oxidation
 Chill H2SO4\cocaine solution below 5 degrees C and oxidize with 6% KMnO4
solution (stir in 10-15mL every 5-10 mins, after final addition leave to fully
react for 45 mins)
 Filter out brown MnO4 from H2SO4 solution
Freebasing
 Base now nearly colorless H2SO4\cocaine solution with 10% ammonia
solution
 Filter out dirty freebase cocaine and let dry out fully overnight/next day (make
sure it is fully dried out, don’t use heat!)
 Dissolve freebase cocaine in minimum amount of dry acetone and filter very
finely (stuff some cotton wool up the neck of the funnel as well as a coffee
filter in the top)
 Evaporate acetone in a clean evaporation dish (pyrex baking tray works
perfectly, again no heat!)
 Scrape up and weigh out clean freebase cocaine
Salting
 Dissolve cocaine in ~20mL of dry acetone per gram of freebase in beaker A
 In beaker B add ~100mL of dry acetone and 0.32 times the amount of
freebase cocaine as 37% HCL (eg. For 2 grams of freebase add 0.64 GRAMS of
37% hydrochloric acid to the acetone in beaker B)
 Simply pour the contents of beaker B into beaker A and give it a stir (the
cocaine.HCl should start to snow out of solution in a few minutes but can take
longer)
 Leave sit over night or for at least 3-5 hours and filter to catch all the
cocaine.HCl
 Leave cocaine.HCl to dry out fully in front of a fan on low (at least 12 hours)
Calculations
To make up a 6% KMnO4 solution:
Dissolve 60 grams of KMnO4 into 940 grams of water to make 1 litre worth
To make up a 5% solution of H2SO4:
Dissolve 100 grams of 96% H2SO4 into 1820 grams of water to make nearly
2 litres worth
To make up Sodium Carbonate extraction solution:
Dissolve 500 grams of Na2CO3 into 5 litres of water (1:10 ratio)
Salting ratio:
0.32 grams of 37% HCL for every 1 gram of freebase